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Ron: Hello and welcome to Season 7 of Stereo Geeks! I’m Ron.

Mon: And I’m Mon. Today, we’re recapping our time at the Fall edition of the Toronto Game Expo 2025.

Ron: Let’s share a reminder of who we are for our listeners. 

Mon: Great idea. We’re twins who love pop culture, and we’ve been reviewing and critiquing films, television, books, and comics for years now. 

Ron: Mon and I are both Tomatometer-Approved Critics, which means you can find our reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Mon: Plus, we attend and recap festivals, cons and expos like Toronto Game Expo.

Ron: Before we start our episode, we would like to acknowledge that the land we are recording on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. It is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.

Mon: While we are making this land acknowledgement, we understand that this is not enough and that positive action is required by the people of Canada to make substantive change for the Indigenous nations and communities whose lands we now reside on.

[Music]

Ron: The Toronto Game Expo of Fall 2025 was much larger than the Spring edition. It was a different location in Exhibition Place, with over 600 exhibitor tables. It definitely felt a lot bigger as we were wandering around. We were walking those aisles for ages!

Mon: Speaking of the aisles, I really like how wide they are. It’s so much more spacious and easier to walk around without bumping into other people. 

Ron: Which is an issue we’ve had quite a lot at the comic cons at MTCC. The aisles are so narrow and it becomes a bit of a nightmare navigating the massive crowds. 

Mon: Over here we got to peruse in peace. And I felt like we could actually visit more artists and vendors this way. 

Ron: I did love how big the artist's alley was at this TGE. And so many different kinds of art and artistic styles. I didn’t know where to look! What a feast for the eyes. 

Mon: Gorgeous stuff everywhere. Loved looking at it. And yes, we definitely picked up some pieces. 

Ron: I will say that I thought there were fewer games vendors than there were artists. At the Spring TGE, there were aisles and aisles of them, which meant we eventually got the kinds of games we had been searching for. But this time, the games vendors were scattered around, and there did seem to be a bigger focus on art. 

Mon: I agree. And while I love that we had more art vendors, TGE is where I expect to get games, that’s what makes them different from the other cons we go to. Of course, we did pick up a fair few games at really great prices.

Mon: On that note, just a reminder that I come to TGE for one reason and one reason only: it’s to play games for free.

Ron: Yes! Why did we even stop and do anything else? The arcade games are where it’s at. 

Mon: Well, the problem is, TGE asks media to come at 9am, even though the event officially begins at 10. I’m ok with us coming early if there’s something for us to see. But once again, a lot of the vendors were still just setting up. The gaming sections weren’t up and running yet. I like that we media don’t have to stand in unnecessary lines, but this was an early, early day for us. The one hour jump start didn’t give us much of an exclusive look at much.   

Ron: True. But as press, once the arcade games get set up, we get to preview them before the rest of the attendees, so that was extremely fun. Not having to fight or queue up to access the games meant we got to play them all. At least the ones we wanted to. 

Mon: You’re absolutely right. I just wish they’d be open at 9am. 

Ron: We started off the arcade games with me playing the drums. I haven’t done this since I was 20. It was absolutely disastrous but so much fun. I was eventually just playing to my own beat. I failed the game completely!

Mon: I’ve found with arcade games, you’re not supposed to be looking at the centre of the screen. We automatically look there, but the action’s happening elsewhere. 

Ron: Yes, especially the music games. There’s an area right on top, which is where the tones and buttons are supposed to go. But we keep focusing on the centre. Probably because we’ve been playing consoles all this while. 

Mon: Yeah, we didn’t grow up with arcades. It’s confusing for us. We then tried our hand at Steering Champ. If my two trips to TGE have taught me anything it’s that I cannot steer. I’m so bad at it. Good thing I don’t drive. You beat me in almost every round. 

Ron: Yes, well, it was a slippery beast. But it was fun! This is the kind of arcade game that has tons of levels, every one is different and has different controls. I think we ended up playing 12 levels finally. And we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Mon: We followed that up with Street Fighter, which was epic! We have heard of this game for so long. And I feel like we can recognize the characters, but we finally actually got to play it. In the Spring edition, we played Mortal Kombat and now we’ve got to play Street Fighter. And you bested me again. You’re really good at these games. 

Ron: Why thank you, thank you. But I wasn’t that good at the driving game. 

Mon: I’m pretty sure you beat me at that one too. Told you, I can’t steer. I crashed like…so many times. 

Ron: Me too. I find driving games so hard. I also feel like they move faster than my brain does. This is why we do not drive. 

Mon: So we skipped over Jubeats, because I tried that at the last TGE, and that game is a hater. 

Ron: Haha. But we once again got hold of the guns to play The House of the Dead 2. 

Mon: We were much better this time compared to our previous go at TGE. Some civilians did end up getting killed but not because we accidentally shot them in the game!

Ron: Yeah, we even got to the big boss fight and that took some effort but we won that. Go us!

Mon: We then tried out this dance, tap game. It was so hard. I missed every beat. 

Ron: And my arms hurt. That’s a level of dexterity and visual acuity that we do not possess.

Mon: I know right! But the game I really dug was that Buddhist drum game. They had these massive drums and sticks and we had to play a tune. I spent the entire time looking at your beats and couldn’t figure out why I was doing so badly. 

Ron: Yeah, we were miserable at that game as well. I couldn’t figure out where I was supposed to hit, or when. But I loved playing it. I loved the big drums, I loved whacking it with the sticks. Honestly, it was therapeutic. 

Mon: Yeah. We may be terrible arcade players, but we sure love it! 

Ron: We then stopped by at the video games section. You played a little bit of Ms Pac-Man!

Mon: Yes. It was this tiny, old-school game box with a joystick. It was a ton of fun to play. 

Ron: I played Star Wars: Battlefront II. I couldn’t figure out the controls at first so my clone trooper kept getting killed. It has apparently been a minute since we played console games!

Mon: Last time around we didn’t get to enjoy these games at all. There was no one to help guide us. But this time, the area was empty and we just sat and got to try our hand at a few. I killed it as Leo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants.

Ron: You smashed The Hand! You also smashed the Joker, aka me, when you were Batman in Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Mon: But of course. Did we really want the Joker to beat Batman?

Ron: Moving on to the main event: the Indie game developers. 

Mon: I felt like we didn’t get to enjoy many of them in the previous edition. So this time, we decided to really take our time in that area. 

Ron: Yes. Our first stop was this adorable game called Elfie, which is where you help a little elephant make sandcastles. 

Mon: Tell us what that was like. 

Ron: Very cute. Elfie is a little elephant, and makes the sweetest little sounds. The creator asked me to put the headphones on so I could listen to the music, and that was great advice because the music was delightful. Really made me feel like I was on the beach. Apparently more music is on its way so the game will have more options. It's almost complete and set to be released on Steam, end of Q1 2026. 

Mon: Then we spoke to the developer of the game Vesper & the Umbral Passage. It’s a game about a little rat looking for her parents. She goes on an Indiana Jones-esque adventure. 

Ron: From what we could see, the game looked amazing. And this is at 80% completion. Unfortunately, someone else was already playing the game, so we couldn’t try our hand at it. That was really disappointing because it looked gorgeous. But the game is available on Steam for those who want to try it. 

Mon: After that you and I tried two versions of this Sisyphus game. Truth be told, I don’t get it. It was us pushing a boulder, but we were getting random comments from people. 

Ron: Yeah, I think the boulder-pusher, aka Sisyphus, is an influencer in the game? I didn’t quite understand it. In my version, I could turn the boulder into like a fridge or a giant cartoon head. I couldn’t quite get it to work, no matter what I clicked. But you know what, it was worth a try. 

Mon: A lot of these games are available on Steam, or at least available to wishlist on Steam. So do go try them out. Next we tried this multiplayer first-person shooter. 

Ron: FPSCore had amazing graphics. Stunning. But absolutely nothing to do. We kind of went through the same corridors a couple of times and then respawned. 

Mon: We kept getting stuck. We couldn’t see behind our character and couldn’t turn either. And we didn’t realize we had to shoot at each other.  

Ron: Hard to shoot when we’re only looking one way. 

Mon: I wonder if we could turn with the mouse. I don’t know. PC controls are very different and I’ve forgotten them all. We did give the developer some feedback. The game looks great so I’m sure it’s going to be a hit once he irons out the kinks. 

Mon: Ok, I have to talk about Twins of Olus. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was mesmerizing. The gameplay, the graphics, the music. I was just lost in there. I physically tore myself away from the game because I didn’t want to hog it. It’s this twee fantasy story where the people are attached to, like, a shadow creature. It was great. No clue what the objective was, I just wanted to live in that game.

Ron: I had a very interesting conversation with the Twins of Olus programmer. I didn’t get to speak with the artist. They’ve been working on this game for a few years and they’re almost ready to put it out there. The gentleman I spoke to has been in game dev for 10 years already, so he brings a wealth of experience into programming it. He and the artist had worked on a project for a game developer that shut down so they decided to make their own game. It’s just them at this time and they’re hoping to get more interest in the game on Steam and on consoles, hopefully, so they can start bringing in some money and add more people to the team.

Ron: Next stop was Rise and Fall, a sports game. I could barely see my character. One of the creators was excellent at the game and he was making goals at lightning speed. I was just mashing buttons and running around the arena. But this game is complete and already available on Steam. I probably needed more time to get to know the instructions. 

Mon: I kept losing track of my character and I had no idea what I was doing. I think this game is best played on a portable console so you can see more closely. Maybe a zoomed in version would be better. Great graphics, but I couldn’t make anything out on a PC monitor two feet away from me.

Ron: We spoke with one of the creators of an online platform called Play Multiverse. Basically, instead of tabletop RPGs–role-playing games–having to be done in-person, this platform enables people to role-play games online. They upload character art and imagery that people can choose, and there’s a chat function, as well. No voice because a lot of players use Discord to chat.

Mon: What a fascinating concept. We’ve always thought of RPGs as something that needs to be done face-to-face, but with people spread around the world, this makes it possible for them to play from wherever they are.

Ron: We have to talk about Rodent Rumble. I love this game. You play a squirrel and you have to grab these giant nuts in different settings. I could happily have played that game all day. I had to drag myself away.

Mon: But then it got even more fun. They had a setup for people to customize their squirrel and they printed it out as a little trading card. That was such an interactive experience! And now we have two cards with the cutest and most colourful squirrels. 

Ron: We made a pitstop to try our hand at Dawn of the Monsters. It’s a multiplayer game where we played as… you guessed it, monsters. We picked up buildings to hurl at enemy monsters.

Mon: It was fun. You’re this lumbering beast, and there’s other monsters coming at you. Looked a little like a Godzilla movie. 

Ron: I then tried RollerGirl. You play a girl on roller skates. Her brother’s car stops working and she has to complete tasks to get the mechanic to fix the car for free. I loved the graphics. It was so soothing. Going around picking up stuff. I did think the movement was a bit too swift and I lost control of my character at times, but that was a very small issue. The creators have been working on this game for three years, and they’re planning a 2027 launch. They’re taking their time and it’s going to be fabulous when it releases.

Mon: I played Ambrosia, a sci-fi game where the protagonist is a scientist who cleans up after disasters and performs the final rites for the deceased. The premise was intriguing enough, but once I hit play I was absolutely lost in the game. You and I like playing games, but the intimacy of playing by yourself on a PC with the headphones blaring sound effects, dialogue, and music, is distractingly immersive. I, once again, had to pull myself out of there, because I wanted to keep playing. Even the gross-looking fungus couldn’t frighten me away. I intend to get my hands on this game to play it fully.

Ron: While you were completely immersed in playing Ambrosia, I got to speak with the creator. This is a very unusual story for a game. I wanted to know why they had taken this approach to a story about death. The narrative director, who had unfortunately just left for the day, has a deep interest in the subject of death and wanted to explore that in the game. I would have loved to have spoken to them about it. I find the concept of this game so fascinating—playing as a character whose job it is to hear the final words of the dead and perform their final rites. That’s creativity and humanity. Ambrosia is already out on Steam. Hopefully it will be on a platform soon because I’d love to play it. 

Mon: I will say that, while we may sound critical of some of these games, we had a ton of fun playing all of them. And truthfully, these games are all labours of love for the creators. Our critiques are for the betterment of their works. To get anything to the point where you can have the public interact with it, is already a breakthrough. 

Ron: These are incredible achievements and all the creators should be extremely proud. I’m glad we got to play these games.  

Mon: We can cover some of the highs and lows of the TGE. The highs of the show was the amount of art and creativity on display. People are ludicrously talented. Yes, some people had obviously bought stuff wholesale and were then pawning it off here, but others had handmade sculptures, posters, crochet items, wood carvings and so much more. I was gobsmacked. 

Ron: And we’re delighted we get to enjoy some of those beautiful pieces of art by bringing them home. 

Ron: But when it comes to the lows, I have to say the food situation. There were three food trucks and a slushie place—not sure who drinks slushie in winter. Couldn’t be me. But the lines were so long. I stood for 40 minutes while you saved our seats. I had seen that there were tacos available. We wanted to eat that; hot dogs and burgers aren’t great when you’re out that long. 

Ron: Well, after standing for such a long time, I reach the front to learn that there are no tacos. They only have fries. We didn’t want to eat fries. Who wants fried food after a long day? It was so frustrating because tacos were written on the menu. I ended up having to buy fries because I wasn’t going to waste any more time queuing. And of course they were tasty, but come on!

Mon: These things need to be signposted in advance. But also, can we bring food into the Expo? One person on a keto diet brought their own food. Had I known, I’d have planned our own meal. 

Mon: Food lows aside, we got to speak to Michael Benyaer, who voiced Hadji in the 90s Jonny Quest show. Can you believe we were the first people that day to talk to him about Hadji?

Ron: Yeah, we had a surprising chat with him. Apparently not only were there no 90s kids in the house, but no one he’s met likes Hadji. Now, I partially get it. What kind of name is Hadji? What kind of accent does he have? And Kolkata in the show looks nothing like the real place. 

Mon: Yeah, and foreign languages in shows back then were just gibberish. I get it. I also know that as adult transplants from India, we have a different relationship with certain characters. 

Ron: I was very amused by how stunned Benyaer was by our love for Jonny Quest and Hadji. He was practically emotional. But it did make me wonder if we’re bad Indians for forgiving the show its faults. 

Mon: Dude, we’ve always been bad Indians. That’s why we’re Canadian now. 

Ron: Sadly true! Hadji was representation for us when the cartoons we watched never had anyone who looked or sounded remotely like us. Benyaer also talked about how Hadji was a life changing experience for him. He was discovered in the US and offered the role and that set him up for a career in Hollywood. He even credits getting his US citizenship to this role. 

Mon: Indeed. He said it was a spectacular time. His first day, the guest voice actor was Mark Hamill.

Ron: Amazing stuff. He worked with the actor who voiced Fred Flintstone. It was a transformative experience for him. It’s great that we got to speak with him.

Ron: You know, we had such a great time at TGE Spring that I couldn’t wait for this edition. And it turned out to be so much bigger, there was so much art, and we got to try so many games, arcade, video games, and my favourite part, the Indie games. We talked so much, our throats are hoarse, and our feet hurt. But every moment was beyond enjoyable.

Mon: I may crib and complain, but we spent eight hours at TGE this time. We bought stuff, we spoke to people, we played games. We had a really memorable time. I just wish we didn’t have to wander aimlessly for so much time after check-in. And the food options should be better.

Ron: I think TGE is a great way to kick off our new season. Tune in next time when we review Wicked: For Good.